should a gym club just assume it's ok for their christmas display to involve spending £25 per child on new leotards?

[hatwoman]

I think this is really out of order. firstly they have a club leotard - but they choose not to enforce it for normal lessons. (nor do they warn newcomers that they might need one for other occasions) so the result is everyone has perfectly good leotards - but a complete mixture of colours and styles. so one month before Christmas and their christmas show (which is costing £10 per ticket to see) they annouce that dd1's class all need club leotards (£25), plus a black long-sleeved t-shirt (dd hasn't got anything black so that'll be another fiver and, I expect, a painful shop as it's not the kind of thing you see much of) plus a mask of some sort that the club will make and charge us for (? let's guess £3). dd2 needs a new leotard too (another £25). so this whole thing is costing near enough £80. plus an inordinate amount of practices and performances - it's basically taking up the whole of every weekend between now and Christmas. not that we had anything else in mind...

thank the lord we're moving soon and therefore leaving. I know we could leave anyway and that this is all optional and our fault etc etc but it does niggle me - they are effectively excluding people from their activities so I wanted to get it off my chest and have a whinge.

The things that bugs me most is the thoughtlessness - just a small note when you start saying "we don;t enforce club leotards for classes so if you already have a leotard no need to buy a new one. We do however use them for performances so if you do buy a new one we recommend you buy a club one" - would be so easy and would save a whole load of people £25-odd quid (more if they have more than one child).

that was a bit long...

I agree that its thoughtless and unfair.
But I think its also common. People running clubs and shows seem to forget that it's not necessarily number one in everyone's life, and that they may have other priorities and commitments.

I've had this recently and have had to buy a club sweatshirt and black shoes for a performance that my child will most likely never wear again.
And no one wants to complain in case they look mean or poor.

for plain colour Ts both short and long sleeve try a shop that do T-shirt printing ( for corporate/ schools type wear) I get good quality plain Ts for a small child that way. Most shops seem to only sell Ts with logos and pictures.

What have they done other years? I would have thought part of the fun of being in a club is the associated uniform - eg brownies etc. It would be unfair if you weren't aware there was a uniform before you signed up.

primark do plain black t shirts for about £2

there is a company online called DANCE DIRECT that are quite good

Cant you advertise for a second hand one. Children are always growing.

Start a rebellion and don't buy it.

My DD dance classes have always allowed free choice when it comes to jazz and tap outfits and full proper outfit for ballet, fairenough as I knew that when we started. many mums choose to spend between £25 to £40 for "proper" dance outfits, which I think look gawdy and cheap. The older girls all wear black jazz pants and vests.

So DD has always had leggings and a vest top and as she got older black jog pants that look like the jazz pants but cost £20 less from Primark or Matalan and a little black vest top. BUT now they have decided to have a specific school outfit, which suprise suprise is available to buy from the local dance shop owned by the dance school owners sister. Wholeout fit will cost £25 plus.

they tried to get them to get them in time for the Christmas show, I did not get one, and DD looked great in her black outfit. I think I might call their bluff and make my own using the right colour ribbon to edge her outfit. I made her a great outfir before out of a bikini and swimsuit set and cost me £6 in total and everyone thought it was shop bought.

We have to pay for dd's dance show costumes. Last year I got off lightly at £25, the year before I was £50. The rehearsals get right on my wick too, especially if you have to "chaperone" but dd loves it.

Christmas show we don't have to buy costumes thankgoodness, even though they have started pushing the new uniform.

Summer show they "hire" a costume for each dance they do at £3, I don't mind it too much as the school do use the money to add to their growing collection of outfits and £9 is not bad in total compared with what other schools seems to charge. Has meant a couple of badly fitting outfits but as I am one of the annoying mums that hang about and keep a check on going ons I normally fix these problems by doing swaps with other kids until they all get a half decent fit.

Perhaps other schools could be encourged to start their own library of costumes and tkae a hire fee only.